COLORADO — A new report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics outlines employment trends in June of 2022, showing unemployment rates back down to pre-pandemic levels.
Despite the good news from the jobs report, there continues to be concerns that we may be sliding into a recession, driven by inflation.
Joe Craig, the Economics Department Director at UCCS, says a recession can seem scary, but people should not be overly concerned.
"If we are in a recession, and people still have jobs, then you ask yourself, well, how bad is that recession really, it may just mean that people aren't spending quite as much as they wanted to maybe people are saving a little more. That's not necessarily the end of the world," he said.
Unemployment sits at 3.6% right now, with the leisure and hospitality industry having the highest rate at 5.2%. However, that is down from nearly 11% from last June.
Pat Rigdon and his wife decided now was the right time to open their own small franchise.
"We really just kind of opened the doors at 10 am this morning. So less than two hours. And it's been a pretty good flood of people in so far," said Rigdon.
He says finding employees was a bit challenging, but inflation rates are affecting them the most.
"Supplies have been difficult to come across. We've had to use different brand name things. That's probably one of the biggest challenges actually is to find all the right ingredients," said Rigdon.
With inflation levels rising, a future recession is a hot topic right now.
"Inflation has been very high, the fed is very worried about that, which is why they're continuing to raise rates," said Craig.
In order to call a recession, the GDP, the total value of goods and services produced in one year, has to fall for two consecutive quarters. In the first quarter of 2022, we saw a 1.5% decrease and quarter two is now wavering between positive and negative numbers.
But Craig said people should not worry.
"There have been recessions in this country that no one's even felt. As long as you're employed, working, and you're still making some money, I think that a recession is not necessarily a scary thing."
He also said if an official recession is called by the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, it will happen later this summer.
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